Tamil Nadu has screened swab samples collected from 1,807 international passengers to check the presence of Omicron variant of COVID-19, said Health Minister Ma. Subramanian in Coimbatore on Thursday. He said no sample tested positive for the new variant.
Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said that Tamil Nadu had 3.2 lakh TaqPath kits which were used to detect the 'S gene dropout' - a marker of the presence of the Omicron variant. The Tamil Naru Medical Services Corporation had placed orders for an additional number of one lakh kits.
The Minister, along with Mr. Radhakrishnan and other senior officials, inspected arrangements for the screening of passengers at the Coimbatore International Airport on Thursday. Tami Nadu efficiently handled cases of the early variants of COVID-19, including Delta, and the State’s health infrastructure was equipped to deal with the new variant.
